Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.

Me and my wife started out looking for land that we could put a nice manufactured home on. What we found was mostly areas that weren't very nice at all, or if there were manufactured homes, they ranged from really cheap and small basic ones to middle of the road.

Now don't get me wrong, I totally understand the idea of restrictions that protect the value of properties surrounding the ones for sale. And that is where we ran into constant restrictions for no "mobile homes".

My question is, do a lot of these properties also have restrictions against modular homes? One of the companies we had looked into offered floorplans in modular form, which means the house has to meet all the exact same criteria as a site built home.

We aren't looking to stand out as a eyesore, but rather we were planning to pay a lot extra to get a 5/12 pitched roof with 30 year shingles, permanent foundation with stone instead of cinderblock, etc. I attached a photo of a house done by one of the companies we looked at...

Now I understand subdivision restriction where the houses have to all be similar to a certain degree, but many roads I've seen have lots that are not part of subdivisions.

So overall, I guess my question is does a "no mobile homes" restriction also mean no modulars? I've seen restrictions of "site built only" which are very clear that modular wouldn't be acceptable, but it seems they would be where the restriction is "no mobile homes" only.

Many of the subdivisions have zoning in place as you said but there are ways around it even with manufactured homes.

Most will have an appearance requirement stating that the home going in must look similar to 2 of the 3 closest homes meaning if there is an attached garage the manufactured home needs an attached garage, if there are a couple of bump outs on the front of the homes then the manufactured home would need this also.

So in effect it can be done but what happens is with the changes the manufactured home ends up costing just as much as the site built homes.

Of course zoning from county to county let alone from state to state can be vastly different so you need to check with your particular county.

Check out municode.com and search the online library. If you like let me know what county and state you are in and I can see what I can find.

There are actually some modulars that come on wheels and axles just like the manufactured, the difference being the wiring, plumbing, and a couple of other things are built to the same specs as site built whereas those not sold as a modular only have to meet HUD spec although many go far beyond standard HUD specs in most areas. The modulars that come to the site like the manufactured are simply lifted up with a crane and set in place without the large I-beams that they came on. At least that is the way I understand it from the reading I have done. But true, most modulars come on a flatbed truck instead of I-beams and axles.

We are in Knox County TN, looking for something in the far west area, or possible Loudon County on the far east end.

I looked through some of the codes, but wasn't sure exactly were to look for the restrictions on manufactured housing.

In Knox county it looks like you are ok in an RA zoning area and an RB zoning area.
The others you would need special exemptions.
Any lot you are interested in you should be able to call the zoning dept to find out what it is zoned.

Thanks a lot for the help! It does seem fairly hard to find anything larger than .25 acre. We've given up on finding 5-10 acres rurally and dealing with a long commute, but we really would like .4-.6 acres.

We'll continue looking at both lots and existing homes because we certainly don't want to end up spending too much on a modular as that would defeat the purpose.

Modular homes these days are amazing. We have several projects where we are suppling a modular home company with floorplans. They gave us the specifications for each module. And we are designing to fit within that. They lift the sections and place them on a site poured foundation, bolt the modules together and to the foundation, and add any additional site work that might be needed IE attached garages are usually site built. They look nothing like the past, they actually look like any other house on the block, and with the same quality.

Can you imagine a Custom Designed Modular home? lol I did not think it was entirely passable until we got the two recent projects in our office.

We are also looking at modular homes and we own a lot in Tellico Village. Several of the modular home builders have told me that they have done work in Tellico Village so it is allowed. Modular - not mobile. Many modular homes are actually built better that site built homes because they are made in a factory where weather does not become a factor and we liked the idea of it getting done fast.

I own a mobile home an I'm looking for a land to bay where to put it. Them I read an looking to the coment you are bring to question; Them now I'm question my self IF I WILL BE ABLE TO FOUND A LAND WHERE I WILL NOT HAVE THE PROBLEM YOU ARE MENTION.
I live in Tampa Florida. My MH is inside a deep restriction MH park but I want to get out of this park for severals reason. One is the big list of restriction they have.
If any person know where I could found the list of restriction the land or area need to acompliche in order to put a MH in the psrtiland lot and some body latter come with one more after I put the MH in the land I buoth with that porpose.
I 'm so uncontoble with this problem that I don't is there is a good idea to buy the land or to sale the MH after I put so much money in to.
I the other hand. I don't know if I will be able to get my money back?

Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.